She sat on the roof of her caravan, with a convertible lazy chair. She had a can of cold beer with her, sipping quietly as she kept watch of the surroundings. It tasted funny, as though the wheat had gone bad. It wasn’t surprising, really. That can of alcohol was already a year past its expiry and it was pretty rare to find expired can drinks back then. These things never seem to expire. It was a whole different story now. It was a step backwards for mankind indeed.

Her binoculars were at her side, kept safe on top of a picnic carpet. The night vision on it helped to keep watch, but tonight there was no need for it. The moon was up in all of its glory, bathing the world in its maiden glow. The moonlight was a diffuse ocean above them, lessening the inky blackness of the night, but not so bright as to dull the stars that speckled and glittered in the heavens above. Heavens; how ironic considering it was hell on earth.

She found to have lost herself staring at the moon, loosening her tightly wound psyche and freeing her thoughts, letting them wander as they would, to places in her mind that were far and distant, dark and eerie, yet mysterious and undiscovered. The mind was a vast sandbox game for the beholder, yet one must be wary of where one explored, for the mind could be a vicious place.

The night was quiet, with the gentle snores of her mates in the caravan, regaining their strength. It was a long day after all. She looked at her watch and it was four in the morning. She took another sip of her beer and let out a soft sigh of satisfaction. The caravan was parked in the middle of the road, garnering them a clear view of their surroundings. This was a good place for an outpost. As of tonight, however, it was just them and nature, without any of those bastards to come and disrupt their peace. It was about time. Last night was brutal and they had to relinquish nearly half of their ammo reserve to keep them at bay. It was no wonder why her mates were snoring their tired heads off.

She reached down and fumbled about, grabbing a Walkman from the carpet. She looked at this ancient piece of tech and slowly begun to miss her smartphone. She had to abandon it when it had ceased its usability. No internet meant no more social networking; no more Instagram or Facebook or Twitter. No electricity meant no ports to charge. Smartphones, unlike the Walkman, did not run on AAA batteries. Within the week, the smartphone was a brick and she tossed it aside but kept her SD card just in case. The more she thought about it, the more she felt stupid.

‘Just in case? Just in case of what? Just in case the world spontaneously recovered overnight?’

She wasn’t very familiar with the Walkman and she d with it like a proper illiterate. This was her friend’s, who gave it to her to try out something that would help ease the burden on her shoulders. She, of course, was reluctant to try it out, even though being pestered constantly. She never found the need for it and she always had problems opening up. It could have been her messy childhood that made her a shut-in for opening up, even when she was alone and staring at her reflection in the mirror.

So, tonight, with a fitting ambience and some alcohol in her bloodstream, maybe she could try it out.

“Hello, uh…” she mumbled into the microphone while the Walkman recorded, “I’m Jessica. Hi… , I sound ridiculous.”

Jessica took another big gulp of her beer and tried again.

“I’m trying out something that my friend, Yuri, was bugging me day and night to try out. It called making an audio log. For me, I do not get the purpose of doing this. It’s not like there’s anyone left nearby with enough intellectual capability to listen and understand this, apart from our tiny band of misfits. Yuri says that it’s not about who hears it, it’s about who speaks it,” Jessica looked at the humongous moon up above, “She says that it’ll help with all the bottled-up feelings.”

Jessica scoffed at the sound of that.

“Bottled-up feelings? It sounds like I’m back to my adolescent days, wrecking chaos figuring out how to confess to a boy,” she shook her head, “I kinda miss those days. I miss civilisation. I miss going out with friends to malls, to shop till we drop. I miss meeting cute guys, alive and breathing guys. I liked being chased and courted by them. It feels awesome, but now the chase is so different. I’m being chased by dead people. That .”

Jessica kept her eyes on the big satellite, thinking and drowning herself in thoughts. It was hard not to when the night was so peaceful and comforting to the soul.

“Yuri said that the key to making an audio log is not to think too much; to just speak from the heart. Well, in that case, I should talk about the future… if any. Is this really the end of the world? Is this really the biblical apocalypse? If that’s really true, where do we go from here?”

After a moment of silence, Jessica turned the Walkman off, stopping the tape from spinning and recording. That was enough of that.

“OI DIP!” Jessica got kicked on her buttocks, “Wake the hell up!”

Jessica got shocked out of her slumber and murmured nonsense through her drools.

“You’re supposed to keep watch! Why are you sleeping!?”

“I- I must have dozed off…” Jessica yawned, “Ohhhh, I got myself a bloody headache.”

Krystal sat on the roof next to Jessica and grabbed an empty beer can.

“How many of these have you popped last night?” Krystal glared at her.

“Four or five?”

“Dude, this is a precious commodity! You just took down half of our stock!”

“We’ll find more, little sister. Cut me some slack…” Jessica rolled to her side and tried to continue sleeping.

“It’s already 10.30am, Jess. We need to get moving. We’ve got some ground to cover today.”

The other woman yawned loudly in response.

“How the hell are you the elder sister?” Krystal murmured to herself and shaking her head, “Hopeless.”

“Hey!”

Krystal saw the player next to the chair, among the empty beer cans, and grabbed it.

“I see you’ve been trying out Yuri’s Walkman. Did you record anything in it?”

She wanted to press play but Jessica sprung to her feet and snatched it away from her, swift like a cat.

Krystal stared at Jessica in utter bewilderment.

“The fu-?”

“That’s private! It’s only for me to hear!”

“What’s wrong with you today?” Krystal blasted at her, “You’re acting like a kid!”

“Stop sounding like you’re my mother, Krystal.”

“Fine, suit yourself,” Krystal just sat and stared at the long road ahead, “Yuri should be back anytime soon. We’ll leave when she returns.”

“Where did she go?”

“To take a dump in the woods. Can’t you smell it, Jess?”

“Ah yes, no wonder it smells like something died.”

“I had a weird dream,” Krystal suddenly blurted out.

“I don’t care.”

“I’m going to say it out and you’re gonna hear it. You don’t have a choice, big sis.”

“Being the elder usually gives me a choice…”

“Not this time,” Krystal smirked, “Now, where do I begin?”

“By shutting up?” Jessica held her throbbing head, “Please?”

“I was in this Burger King restaurant…” Krystal started, “I was eating a monstrous meal, I tell you. Triple patty, an enormous set of fries and an extra large coke with some cheesy wedges. Glorious, I say.”

“You fat .”

“I was grateful. I know there are at least half the population out there starving to death and yet here I was eating like a queen.”

“Maybe it’s because of you they are starving…”

“I can’t remember with whom but I was there. I could not clearly remember it,” she continued and ignoring her sister’s remarks, “I sat eating while looking at everyone there who seemed so cheerful, like they nothing to worry about… like in the Old Days, before the Enigma. It was nice to eat in peace and with the company of people.”

“Was it the Burger King near our house?”

“Yeah, I think so. I miss their burgers. Haven’t had them since hell broke loose, which is what, ten years ago?”

“Yeah…”

“A decade was all it took to undo years of civilisation,” Krystal articulated solemnly, “For all of our species superiority, in just half a year and the population of humans dropped more than half. What a joke.”

Jessica did not reply. Despite her throbbing hangover, she could still reminisce the memories; the good, the bad, the horrific. They weren’t exactly pr